Airbus logs 85 orders, delivers 81 aircraft in October

Airbus logged a combined total of 85 orders in October for NEO versions of its single-aisle A320 and widebody A330 jetliner families while delivering 81 aircraft from the A220, A320 and A330 and A350 XWB product lines during the month.

Leading the new business were 67 bookings for the twin-engine A321neo and A320neo. Vietjet’s firm order for 50 A321neo aircraft brought the overall number of A320 Family jetliners ordered to date by this Vietnamese carrier to 171. Also included in the October order book was German-based Lufthansa’s acquisition of 17 A320neo aircraft.

In the widebody segment, orders were logged during the month for 18 A330neo jetliners – the latest version of Airbus’ popular twin-engine A330 Family. An undisclosed customer acquired 10 A330-900s, and Kuwait Airways placed an order for eight of the shorter-fuselage A330-800 versions.

The new business in October brought Airbus’ net orders for the January-October 2018 timeframe to 340 aircraft. This was composed of 264 single-aisle jetliners (250 A319/A320/A321neo and 14 A319/A320/A321ceo versions) and 76 widebody aircraft (22 A330neo and four A330ceo jetliners, along with 36 A350 XWBs and 14 A380s).

October’s deliveries were made to 40 customers, involving two A220s, 67 A320 Family jetliners (of which 48 were A320/A321neo aircraft), three A330-200/A330-300s, and nine A350 XWBs in the A350-900 and A350-1000 versions. Among the notable delivery milestones during the month was the first A220 provided to a U.S. carrier – an A220-100 version received by Delta Air Lines. Additionally, Airbus surpassed the 500-delivery mark for its A320neo/A321neo jetliners in October.

Taking the month’s order and delivery activity into account, Airbus’ overall backlog of jetliners remaining to be delivered as of October 31 stood at 7,386 aircraft, representing approximately nine years of production at current rates.